Method and apparatus for treating fabrics with liquids



Nov. 11, 1930. F. HINNEKl-:Ns 1,781,391

METHOD AND'APPAHATUS Fon TREATING FABRICS WITH LIQuIDs Filed Feb. 25, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheat l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. HINNEKENS Filed Feb WE/WOR, Harel hnmeln,

ATT Hiv/EY Nov. l1, 1930.

METHOD AND APPARATUS PQR TREATING FABRICS WITH LIQUIDS Patented Nov. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE FLORENT HINNEKENS, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO VAN VLAANDEREN MACHINE COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING FABRICS WITH LIQUIDS Application led February 25, 1927. Serial No. 171,054.

This invention consists in certain improvements in the method and apparatus for washing or otherwise treating fabrics with liquids of the class in which the fabric in rope form is advanced lengthwise of itself while being treated, as through a nozzle or nozzles which deliver the treating liquid. In certain ma-` chines of this type the rope of fabric is advanced by being extended helically around a rotating reel and it is treated with the liquid by having dependingr portions thereof eX- tended through nozzles which deliver the liquid onto-the fabric, as in a surrounding spray, the liquid falling into a tank into which the depending bights of therope hang jand in which they thus receive further liquid treatment, there being partitions in the tank which vseparate the depending bights from -each other. 'I have illustrated my invention herein in connection with this particulartype of machine. The principal objects are to pro- -vide for a more perfect impregnation of the fabric by the liquid and in general to make the treatment ofthe fabric by the liquid more thorough than heretofore, and also to eect Van appreciable economy in respect to the quantity of liquid required for such treat# ment. A

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved angles to .the'length of the vat, whereas each-v Fig. 2 is anend elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a plan;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line Fig. 7 is an end -view of the tank, partlyV broken away.

Thevat or tank is designated 1 and it is divided into a number of compartments, plan. are angular, by parallel ver which in l tical partltions 4. The portion 4b of each such partition is arranged in a plane at right portion 4a is oblique to suchplane, the direction of obliqueness in the present case being toward the left as the Vat is viewed in front elevation or plan as seen in the drawings.l

As will appear the Washingl or other treating liquid is supplied from above to each compartment and is discharged from the tank at the bottom while the convolutions of the helically extending rope of fabric are'kept circulating in the tank, each in a compartment.

I specially construct each compartment `(see' Fig. 7) with-end -walls 2, which are not as high as the 'sides of the tank and are oblique or otherwise spaced therefrom to permit the liquid to overflow them, and' with bottom walls spaced from the bottom 5 of the tank and thus forming a false bottom for the latter, the .Walls 3 being perforated or otherwise foraminous and the walls 2 preferably not so. One reason for this construction is to separate the fabric .from the dirty washing Water (or fouled liquid) which settles lat the bottom of the tank;- other reasons will appear hereinafter.

The'V angular compartments 6v Kform minor compartments of the tank or vat, which is divided at about the middle into two major compartments 7 and 8 by an angular partition 9 parallel with the partitions 4.

A primary pipe system 10 having a serles of delivery nozzles is suitably supported abovethe major compartment 7 and conveys the water or other treat-ing liquid from any source thereof to -said major compartment.

- A secondary pipe system l1 having a series of delivery nozzles is suitably supported above the majo-r compartment 8 and conveys the water or other treating liquid from lan outlet 12 inthe bottom 5 of the eXtreme left hand minor compartment 4 of the major compartment 7 to said major compartment 8. The f liquid which thus flows into the major compartment 8 is' discharged at an outlet 13 Vin the -bottom 5 and maybe conveyed by a pipe 14Ainto a sewer or any apparatus for recovering the liquid. It may be remarkedv that the partition 9 divides the space of the tank so that there can be no direct How from one major compartment to the other. The pipe system 11 may include a pump 11a for causing flow from major-compartment 7 tothe other major compartment 8.

The mentioned nozzles 15 may be of that type well-known in the art in which each nozzle is annular in form and is adapted to have the rope of fabric passed through its aperture and is constructed to deliver liquid to the fabric rope, thus penetrating it. Each nozzle is'arranged vertically above one of the minor compartments, and the sets of nozzles (one belonging to each pipe system) are arranged vin a single row at the side of the apparatus opposite that where the outlets 12, 13;are. The series of nozzles may be supported by a beam 16 which in turn is supported by two uprights 17 upstanding from the ends of the tank or vat.

18 is a swinging chute which as seen in front elevation (Fig. 1) i's of somewhat greater Width than the series of nozzles is long, andit is divided into a number of passages by vertical partitions 18a. Each passage is preferably lined with rubber, as at 18. Viewing the chute in vertical section in a plane transverse of the machine it tapers downwardly, and in its lower `or delivery end there areospaced glass bars 19 arranged parallel with the long sides of the chute.` The rubber lining protects the chute passages from'the iniiuence of corroding substances in the liquid and the glass bars protect the fabric rope, as will appear, from undue abrasion.

horizontal axis near its upper end in brackets The' chute is pivoted on a 20 iixed to the uprights 17 and it may have at each end an upstanding arm 21,.

A suitably driven reel 22 is journaled on a horizontal axis in suitable bearings on the uprights 17. Through sprocket and chain connections 23 the stub shaft 22a ofthe reel drives crank disks 24 which are connected with the arms of the chute by the pitman 25. At the left hand end'of the machine is Ameans for removing as much of the free liquid as possible from the rope being treated: 26

' is a standard upstanding from the left-hand upright 17 and having pivoted to it a bracket 27 equipped with a weight 28 and a roller A 29 which is held by the weight pressing downward toward the reel, so that it acts to squeeze the 'rope and thus remove the free liquid therefrom.

0pemtzon-The fabric in rope' form passed helically around the reel in such man'- ner that its convolutions-hang in loose coils,

depending into the vat, the helical winding rf being started at the right hand end of the reel and extending in the clockwise direction around the reel as seen in Figs. 2 and 5; each bight has its forward portionextending through .a nozzle 15 and through the corref sponding passage of the chute 18. Theireel iSA rotated in the clockwise direction as seen in Figs. 2 and 5, and in rotating it advances the rope.- Since the extent of the bights exceeds the fall of the rope the latter builds up in .i I l a pile, as shown in Fig. 2, in that (forward) part of each minor compartment which is at right angles to the length of the machine or the axis of the reel, and as the reel rotates and the rope is drawn from the bottom of the pile it is shifted laterally by the oblique por- I. tion of each compartment a distance equal to the spacing o two nozzles, so that its descending portions are brought into registry with the nozzles one after another. The building up of the rope piles, which takes place on the false bottom 2, is effected. by the oscillating chute. To direct the ropes (so they are withdrawn from the piles) rather i laterally than upwardly and thus avoid upsetting them I provide the guide roller 30. The vat may be extended much further to the left than is shown in Fig. 2, and if this roller is correspondingly displaced to the left the goods will be for a longer period submerged in the liquid of the vat.

Meanwhile liquid is being delivered to the rope by the .pipesystcm and nozzles. Thus the fabric is treated as to its descending portions by the liquid streams, and it also receives furthe-liquid treatment in the liquid which falls into the vat, in which the portions of the bights of the rope" which are in the vat are more or less submerged, the liquid being thoroughly worked into the fabric by the sweeping action thel fabric undergoes under the influence of the chute.

The arrangement ofthe liquid systems 10 and 11 is such that the clean or as yet unused liquid is supplied first to that (half) part of the rope which has already undergone cleaning or treating and then this liquid is used to wash or treat the other (half) part of the rope.

' be contaminated-by that in a, preceding one or ones and the goods would issue cleaner than where all the liqr'n'd forms a single bath, the highest state of perfection in this respect be-A ing of course attained when the water in the ultimate compartment is running therethrough from a fresh supply to the waste.

But thisv means either not a well-cleaned product or an undue expenditure of water according as the water is or is not renewed in Ysome way. By my method, wherein the fresh liquid forms a bath for that portion of the progressing fabric which is about to passout of treatment-range and then is conducted to and made to form a bath for the following part of the fabric, there isv attained a con- This produces an appreciable economy in the liquid used and in' more perfect results in.

progressively I' distinguishsiderable economy of the liquid, together with proper results (with respect to cleaning or other action of the liquid) as to the product.

The portion of the fabric resting on the false bottom 3 is more or less constantly submerged, each compartment 4 being frequently full to overflowing. It is my object to insure the solids in this liquid being kept moving always downwardly thus to be drawn away from such portions of the fabric; hence the bottom of each compartment 4 is foraminous. The sides are made non-foraminous both to insure the true downward iiow and also so that the suction that would otherwise exist shall not interfere with the piling operation. It will be further noted that wall 3 is perforated only at the outlet side of the vat, it being imperforate at the other side (where the fabric is piled) so that the sediment below the false bottom is isolated from the pile.

The chute structure extends from the nozzle nearly to the vat, so that in the shifting of the depending convolutions of the spiral the liquid is not thrown out of the vat, the chute being in this respect a fender as well as the instrumentality for causing the shifting.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a vat containing a liquid in which to immerse the fabric being treated, means to support and advance lengthwise of itself around a substantially horizontal axis a length of fabric having a portion thereof depending into the liquid in said vat, and

means to shift back and forth in said liquid in said vat the depending portion of such length of fabric while being advanced.,

2. In combination, a vat containing a liquid in which to immerse-the fabric being treated,

means to support and rotate around a sub stantially horizontal axis a fabric helix havversely of said axis and respectively receiving said convolutions and having the portions thereof vwhich receive the down-going portions of said convolutions extending approximately at right angles to said axis and the portions thereof receiving the up-going portions of said convolutions oblique in the same direction in which the helix is pitched,

it on said portion of the false bottom, and 4 means to supply liquid to the vat.

6. The herein described method which consists in passing a fabric progressively` down into and then upnout of an open-top compartment having a bottom formed with liquid outlet means and substantially closed agalnst the escape of liquid at its sides and meanwhile shifting the fabric laterally of the compartment and back and forth to form it in a pile of reversed folds on said bottom and supplying liquid to the compartment in a quantity to submerge such folds.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

` FLORENT HINNEKENS.

ing portions of its convolutions depending v into the liquid in the vat, and means to shift back and forth in the liquidin the vat said depending portions of such convolutions while rotating the helix.

3. In combination, a vat containing aliquid in which to immerse the fabric being treated, means to support and rotate around a substantially horizontal axis a fabric helix having portionsof its convolutions depending into the liquid in the vat, and means to Ashift back and forth -in the liquid in the vat said depending portions of such convolutions while rotating the helix, the latter means having separate passages respectively receiving said convolutions.

4. In combination, a vatfmeans to suppqrt and rotatev around a substantially horizontal axis a fabric helix having its convolutions arranged tol depend into the vat2 ,said vat having compartments each reaching trans- 

